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Kids with expensive basses...
- Thread starter Waster
- Start date
Couldn't agree more. Felt GREAT when the fruits of my musical labor could afford me my dream bass. Really felt like I EARNED it!
Exactly.
Rics are pretty, and I do like the way they sound -- but the one I used to play (belonged to a bandmate) many years ago was heavy, the neck was way too thick, and the E-string used to occasionally get stuck on the side of the neck pickup until I put some tape on there... long story short it wasn't right for me in terms of playability, and it was not perfect in any case.
Plus which, playing out with an expensive instrument has similar annoyances to driving an expensive car... you're always going to be worrying about can you leave it unattended for a minute, will someone scratch it or nick it while your back is turned, etc.
I knew a guy who won the Downbeat award for best Jazz soloist in high school using a $200 bass. As long as the bass is not a mess and you can set it up how you like It's the player that matters.
indeed.
as a working musician, it does occasionally bother me when weekend warriors have nice gear and no chops, but then i realize that that's the trade-off.
They work high-stress well paying day jobs so they can afford nice gear to play during their stress-relieving jam sessions.
I work as a musician and retail associate so I can ply my trade.
If i had a "better" job, I could afford nicer gear but couldn't afford to take the time to play it like I do.
with that in mind, my choice is clear: I play on a budget because I can't stop playing.
I don't sweat kids or adults with primo gear - it's the chops that really count and for every dope who can't play his Alembic or Fat Les Paul there's a kid who shreds on a low end Ibanez.
As a wage slave my way around the marketing BS of expensive gear is to carefully peruse Craiglist for good deals on useful used gear. This is easy in San Francisco where CL is highly active, but probably not so easy in a lot of other US cities.
From CL I have bought:
A killer Deluxe American Jazz Bass for $600.
A Fender Rhodes Mk 80 for $300.
A Pearl Export drum kit for $250.
A 1948 Gretch New Yorker Archtop for $400.
A handful of Shure SM 57 mics for $50 each.
A Modulus Fretless Bassstar for $500
I've also bought quality used Polk Audio Speakers, furniture, snow skis, CD players, and more....
All these things are a huge savings off the cost of brand new crap and are all useful.
Time spent playing, not buying **** is where the musicianship happens though.
As a wage slave my way around the marketing BS of expensive gear is to carefully peruse Craiglist for good deals on useful used gear. This is easy in San Francisco where CL is highly active, but probably not so easy in a lot of other US cities.
From CL I have bought:
A killer Deluxe American Jazz Bass for $600.
A Fender Rhodes Mk 80 for $300.
A Pearl Export drum kit for $250.
A 1948 Gretch New Yorker Archtop for $400.
A handful of Shure SM 57 mics for $50 each.
A Modulus Fretless Bassstar for $500
I've also bought quality used Polk Audio Speakers, furniture, snow skis, CD players, and more....
All these things are a huge savings off the cost of brand new crap and are all useful.
Time spent playing, not buying **** is where the musicianship happens though.
Agreed, don't worry about what everyone else has, no matter if they play on cheap or professional gear you will play basically the same. Just work on yourself because if you are a good player it shows on pretty much whatever gear. You'll have plenty of time to upgrade as time goes by.
I worked my ... off for four summer holidays for most of my gear during high scool. Most of it are great MIM Fenders (P and strat) and/or used/medium class amps. Find a summer's job and you're good to go. Moneyz...
I'm NOT a good player at all, but I've always appreciated musical instruments for their old-world construction techniques, artistic appeal, and historical value. At 13 I bought my first bass and paid $900 for it. At 16 I biught my first real bass rig - A Bag End Q10BX-D and a Mesaboogie Bass 400+, and paid $4000 for it. The bass rig I play now was $20000, and it's way too big to gig with... but it's exactly what I want, and no one at the gigs I play would ever know or care what it cost anyways. I'm a hobbyist, and maybe one day I'll even be a musician... We're all interested in music for different reasons.
Have you ever thought that maybe this kid's dad bought that Ric 4003 for him because HE always wanted a ric 4003, and he'd love to see his son play it, regardless of how it's played? Parents spend thousands of dollars on hockey equipment, skiing equipment + lift passes, etc. At least that Ric is a somewhat sound investment.
Have you ever thought that maybe this kid's dad bought that Ric 4003 for him because HE always wanted a ric 4003, and he'd love to see his son play it, regardless of how it's played? Parents spend thousands of dollars on hockey equipment, skiing equipment + lift passes, etc. At least that Ric is a somewhat sound investment.
every time ive wanted to buy expensive botique gear ive plowed the cheese into lessons and or music schools and private teachers. after bout 40 years... im strating to see the benefits
remember, its not what you play , its how
remember, its not what you play , its how
Engine207
Losing faith in humanity...one call at a time.
Unfortunately, America has transitioned, over the past generation, from a culture of satisfaction with having earned something of value to a culture of expecting something of value... simply because someone else has it.
I don't see how that's any different from last generation. I seem to recall the boomers going crazy over cell phones.
To my mind, it's good for everyone except the idiot buying gear that's too good for them to fully appreciate. The company making great gear gets paid, and as a result of that, they become more available to everyone. The fact that companies like Rickenbacker can factory manufacture great instruments is in no small part down to complete novices buying their stuff.
I will admit, yes it does irk me a little, (perhaps more out of jealousy than anything else) but really, I feel if they can get the good gear, more power to them. It doesn't really affect me either way.
Paul McCartney played a Hofner (before he made them expensive) - John Lennon played an Epiphone (after he could afford any guitar he wanted)- Just play bass - it's good for you.
I don't want to derail what you were saying-because the bringing up the Beatles was a great point- but that Epiphone was not exactly a low end Epiphone. That's a Casino, and John's signature model is $1,000, and a normal one is $600, not exactly Hofner cheap…
Hi,
i'm a sub par musician, own a 800$ Bass and 800$ Combo and look into buying a used Warwick around the 2k$ mark when i can get my hands on a Corvette or Thumb i like.
Why?
Because I study, earn money during my internship, will very likely have no trouble getting a well-paying job with my engineering degree... and probably won't have the time to learn proper playing any time in my life until i'm 60.
I hope i was able to provide a conclusive answer to your question.
i'm a sub par musician, own a 800$ Bass and 800$ Combo and look into buying a used Warwick around the 2k$ mark when i can get my hands on a Corvette or Thumb i like.
Why?
Because I study, earn money during my internship, will very likely have no trouble getting a well-paying job with my engineering degree... and probably won't have the time to learn proper playing any time in my life until i'm 60.
I hope i was able to provide a conclusive answer to your question.
You have to keep in mind that those sixties Epiphones are Gibsons, but with another headstock. Apart from the name on the headstock and the other name of the model (casino <-> 330, rivoli <-> EB2) they were identical. Both made in Kalamazoo Michigan, on the same production line, with the same woods & hardware, by the same people. Only thing that's different was the address on the shipping crate. Gibson used the street where the main gate was, Epiphone the gate around the corner...
And those Höfners were pretty expensive, because they were built like violins (top carved from a solid piece of spruce, no heatbending, but carving with chisels), a very timeconsuming and expensive way of building
